Innovations in Organic Food Systems for Sustainable Production and Enhanced Ecosystem Services

ICROFS organised jointly with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Organic Management Systems Group of American Society of Agronomy (ASA-OMS) an International Conference that took place 1-2 November 2014 Long Beach, California. Speakers from 12 OECD countries presented developments of organic food systems and potentials for sustainable production and enhanced ecosystem services.

The Co-operative Research Programme on Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD), sponsored the participation of 13 invited speakers from outside the US while the USDA provided sponsorship for the 7 invited speakers from the US.

The 2-day conference was held as a special symposium of the annual conference of the three societies American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and Soil Science Society of America (SSA).

Ecosystem Services‘Natural capital – our ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources – underpins economies, societies and individual well-being’. This is emphasized in various ways in reports from the ‘The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity (TEEB)’ - an initiative of the G8+5 countries launched in 2007. The provision of goods and services by many ecosystems is still poorly understood. In addition the eco-system services are often not valued or they are taken for granted.

There is growing evidence that many ecosystems have been degraded to such an extent that they are nearing critical thresholds, beyond which their capacity to provide useful services may be drastically reduced. Unsustainable agricultural practices have been pointed to as the chief causes of land degradation. Seventeen percent of the world’s soil has been ‘strongly degraded’ and areas of degradation are growing. Biodiversity is under pressure also as a result of human activities. The loss of biodiversity at a global level has been estimated to have exceeded by far what has been referred to as the planetary boundary for safe ‘operating space.

Sustainable Intensification in Organic agricultureOrganic agriculture as defined by IFOAM relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions based on agro-ecological approaches holds the potential for a substantial contribution to sustainable global food production. Intensification in organic agriculture means intensifying the beneficial effects of ecosystem functions, including soil fertility and biodiversity, and using the biological elements of the eco-systems in a structured, organized and more efficient way, so-called eco-functional intensification. Organic agriculture is one of the best developed multifunctional production strategies in agriculture, however, most often with a lower productivity than high input conventional agriculture. Therefore, eco-functional intensification with improved nutrient cycling techniques and agro-ecological methods for enhancing diversity and health of soils, crops and live-stock is a priority for organic research.